First get the x's together on one side. Since there are more x's on the right get rid of the x on the left. Since the x on the left
is added, we will need to subtract x from both sides

x

+

7

=

3x

-

1

-

x

-

x

7

=

2x

-

1

Now we need to get all of the numbers together. If we want our x's on the right, then we will want our numbers on the left. To accomplish this we will need to get rid of the -1 on the right
side. Add 1 to both sides

The reason we are subtracting x from both sides is to get rid of
the x on the left side of the equation. If we do whatever it takes to
get rid of the x on the left, then the x will be gone from the left.
We can simply express this by getting rid of it.

Next we are going to get rid of the -1 on the right. To do this we
add 1 to both sides. The result looks like